Dissertation (DTh)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2009. / Title from web page (viewed on July 14, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 1998. / Title from web page (viewed on Mar. 4, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis looks at how the Scottish state, with a long coastline, got away with a minimal naval footprint in a period when European navies were becoming large permanent institutions. Increasingly, Scottish authorities did this by relying upon the English Royal Navy. This thesis hopes to go some way to filling the lacuna in the historiography of the Royal Navy in the seventeenth century regarding Scotland. The Royal Navy in Scotland is used as a prism through which Scottish and British state development in the period of the union of the crowns is looked at. From the standpoint of 1707 Scotland is generally seen as being an underdeveloped state. Explanations of why this was tend to point to the regal union as a cause due to the removal of key elements of statehood to London, in particular the state's 'monopoly of violence'. This thesis suggests that Scotland did not lose its monopoly of violence and that, instead of being a sign of the regal union's failure, underdevelopment actually indicates success. The Royal Navy shielded Scotland from much of the maritime insecurity which would generate demands to create a significant Scottish naval force. However, this relative success was not indicative of British development providing structures to allow the Royal Navy to react well to Scottish defence needs. Multiple monarchy was a poor organisational structure and AngloScottish communication on naval matters was either poor or non-existent. Instead, geopolitical and strategic factors meant that much Royal Naval provision principally aimed at English defence also helped Scotland. That these factors did not lead to equal protection against all types of maritime threats offers an alternative explanation for the maritime tensions between England and Scotland in the 1690s which Eric Graham identifies with the imposition of English mercantilism on Scotland.

The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate how my research promotes knowledge exchange about my overarching research theme: the rights, status and capacity of distinct categories of individuals in underdeveloped and emerging areas of law. These categories include disempowered individuals (namely young people and transsexuals) and persons of reduced or questionable legal capacity (to date, children and disabled people). The thesis is in two parts. Part 1 (Volume I) is a reflective commentary and Part 2 (Volume II) comprises the published work submitted. In the reflective commentary, my published work is critically appraised and placed within a wider legal and thematic framework. My overarching research theme is summarised and evaluated with reference to the legal premises, methodology and the research outcomes of my published work. In particular, I present a critical reflection of eight of my publications, each of which is concerned with the impact of the law, and issues surrounding legal reform, upon the young and certain disempowered adults. I demonstrate that this body of work forms a contribution to interdisciplinary sharing of novel and meaningful research outputs both (i) within the academic arena and (ii) throughout the wider professional community. I argue that my published work is original, because it is concerned with important, but largely neglected, areas of Scottish (and often wider UK) law. Furthermore, I argue that my publications are independent and significant in that they provide a distinct and critical evaluation of existing law and seek to promote the growth of individual status and capacity. This, in turn, often generates greater provision for individual rights, and the imposition in law of private law and state remedies.

This thesis provides an analysis of the new Scottish politics of information. It examines the implications of information communication technologies (ICTs) for the reformation of Scottish politics within the new historical Scottish moment of devolution. This is related to the advent of ICTs and the possibilities they afford for a further extension of democracy in contemporary Scotland. This in turn is set amidst the concept of informatisation. This term denotes the ability of ICTs to produce new information networks, and the thesis explores the likely outcomes of such conditions within their Scottish context. We begin with an exploration of the tensions existing within a specific frame of reference (Scottish post-war politics), and end with an account of the new context and circumstances of the informatised political system. As such, the thesis details the post-war technocratic era, and traces the movement into democratic deficit and outwards into the new Scottish historical moment: the devolution arrangements of 1999, and onwards. The associating theme throughout is the search for a new politics of settlement. The future of this settlement is however, finely balanced and lies somewhere between a set of contradictory and oppositional political forces. The connecting principle is provided by the informatisation process, and electronic governance. These political technologies are a pivotal feature of the new Scottish politics of information, and the thesis illustrates their centrality within contemporary governance. The positioning of distributed technologies, and distributed informatisation, is a central component of the thesis. In turn, it is contrasted with the development of a centralised form of political computing: given expression throughout the thesis as the new Information Union. Put simply, the thesis explores the implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the reformation of Scottish politics within the new historical Scottish moment. It does so in the context of an opposition between two prevailing theories of the impact of information communication technologies on political life - the theories can be labelled Transformational Politics (Schwerin 1995) and Reinforcement Politics (Danziger et al 1982). The thrust of Transformational Politics is that there are new forms of interactivity which enable new forms of governance characterised by more widely distributed discourse, and new institutional forms such as social-political partnerships between government and community. The thrust of Reinforcement Politics is that the new technical forms of communication are used to further concentrate and control power by existing elites. Both these potentials are visible in the new Scottish Politics and this thesis charts the struggle between these tensions.

This critical appraisal demonstrates three particular themes that are dominant in certain areas of business law, these themes being:  achieving the balance between the interests of debtors and creditors,  the use of legislation to alter business and social behaviour and  the tension between the intention of the legislation and the actuality. These themes are demonstrated throughout my two submitted publications, Company Law, and the Annotated edition of the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007. These form a corpus of work on Scottish business law and in particular, company law, bankruptcy law and diligence. The critical appraisal is a review of certain aspects of this corpus, indicating how and for what purpose these books have been written, the use and effectiveness of the law in each area, and analysing the degree to which the legislation has been successful. The process of writing this critical appraisal caused me to reflect on the drafting of the Companies Act 2006, recent developments in case law on the corporate veil and in particular the efficacy of section 172 of the Companies Act 2006. This encouraged me to carry out further research on how well (or not) s.172 had worked. This proved a particularly fruitful area of research and so has been given substantial treatment in its own right in Chapter 4. The Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 is subjected to an analysis in the light of the three themes to show how the Act was intended to realign the priorities of the needs of debtors and creditors in the light of changed social views on creditors' rights and on bankruptcy. An essential point of this critical appraisal is that legal theories are not as important in the drafting and passing of legislation as is sometimes suggested. This critical appraisal argues that within the areas under discussion, attempts to fit the final legislation into theoretical frameworks do not adequately take account of the political reality underpinning the passing of the legislation. It also argues that there is a schism between political attempts to alter business and social behaviour, or, as the case may be, to alter the interests of debtors and creditors, through the use of legislation, and what actually happens. In the case of diligence, political considerations worked to defeat some ends of the proposed legislation; and in the case of bankruptcy, the reforms introduced by Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007, though welcome, required further amendment. In the case of company law, the legislation was ambitious but naïve.

This thesis analyses representations of the city of Glasgow in visual culture. Given the absence of any coherent study of Glasgow images the primary method is empirical. The thesis explores how the dynamic of change in the urban environment has been rendered in visual media by gathering together paintings, photographs, prints and journal illustrations. In order to contextualise the visual material within the social and historical circumstances that affect its character, this material is considered in relation to pertinent history and theory. Consequently, the disciplines of social and economic history, sociology, philosophy and urban studies are employed. The developing discourse of the city as a visual phenomenon is charted in a broadly chronological manner. Rather than a simplistic historical narrative, this highlights the unfolding connections between the ambitions of Glasgow's 'governors' and the ideological pattern of related images. The thesis opens by revealing the associations between Enlightenment philosophy and the visual interpretation of the increasingly commercial urban environment. It then analyses changes incurred by the projection of a 'municipal' consciousness and shows how the impact of industrialisation was visualised in relation to prevailing artistic styles. Furthermore, it considers the effect of the aesthetic climate on the creation and reception of urban imagery. The thesis then argues that, after the industrial heyday, there was a sense that the essence of Glasgow lay not in its monuments, but in its populace, particularly the working class. Finally, there is a close study of post-industrial Glasgow, accenting patterns of decline and highlighting resistance to commercially inspired and culturally directed 'official' visions. This thesis finds that there was a complex discourse between Glasgow's material reality and its visual representation. It gives full voice to the network of mediating factors and presents a highly specific case study in the aesthetic manifestation of urban life.

No description available.

Two propositions are advanced in the present study: firstly, national, not theological, attitudes have been the main influence on Scottish church music from the earliest days to the present; secondly, the present vitality of Scottish music can be traced back to a 19th-century search for musical excellence in church services by clergy, precentors and organists. Until the 19th century Scottish church music reflected a national indifference to music in general. Neither in pre-Reformation nor post-Reformation times is there completely convincing evidence of high-quality secular musical activity before a brief, if brilliant, period in Edinburgh during the late 18th century. Improvements in the national awareness of classical music came as a result of sweeping changes the Scottish churches had to make when they confronted the scientific and philosophical revolutions of the 19th century. Despite some resistance on the part of congregations, music came to be seen as a way of emphasising confidence and solidarity in the Christian faith. Thereafter more and more expert musicians were attracted to work in Scottish churches with long-term benefits for the churches themselves and for the community in which many of then worked as teachers and administrators. With a greater awareness of the potential benefits of music making, Scottish church and school soon began to regard musical excellence not only as desirable but also as a rationale - excellence equals truth. The pursuit of excellence on the part of leading clergy and church musicians from the late 19th century to the present, which has done so much for the musical health of the nation, has recently given rise to increasing concerns about accessibility. These concerns have fundamental implications for the music of the Scottish Church.